wonder if she's armed?..........complete waste of a platform if she's not.........the navy should take them over and arm them,the fleets small enough as it is.....any increase in firepower even if only for self defence would be a bonus!!
well fort victoria and fort george were fitted for but not with seawolf......and you don't need to tell me they do a lot more than Rassing......i was on Ft Grange Ft victoria Ft Austin........and if all they've fitted them with is Phalanx,then what a waste of a platform !!
i know what she is and phalanx isn't all it's cracked up to be.....the aberporth trials proved that!.....as for the merlin.......don't make me laugh!!!!........
Of course it could have better defensive systems, but we need to be realistic, the RN designed our aircraft carrier with three Phalanx, our destroyers with 2, and our new frigates with 2. They are not going to stick something more advanced on a tanker that should not be engaged in combat to begin with. Phalanx is better than nothing and is meant as a last line of defense anyway. Modern day Phalanx performance is not known, but most of NATO trust it on their ships. I would rather we put something like CAMM on our carrier first before anything else, I am sure the tankers could be fitted with CAMM if needed, but lets be real, the MOD is not going to do that. Regardless ships fitted for but not with is basically the same as saying the ship is never going to get it. As for the Merlin, not sure what you are laughing about, it is a highly regarded maritime helicopter. The tanker having the ability to permanently embark one means that the tanker has the ability to conduct vertical resupply, conduct medium lift, and have an anti-submarine and anti-ship capability.
